Friday, April 17, 2009

We did a few Easter crafts this weekend as we sat around discussing why Easter is so important to us. I like hand print crafts, and generally we do one at Easter as well as Christmas. Last year we made handprint sheep to pass around to family, and this year we made handprint lilies. They are very, very simple to make all though I became slightly frustrated taping the leaves on, and had to get help prying my fingers apart after taping them together. In my defense I only needed help because I was holding the half finished lily in the other hand! We still have a few hanging around that we need to give to their owners! Daddy read the Parable Of The Lily to us while we shaped our handprints into flowers. We had considered using this book for a unit study, but we're still caught up with one, so maybe next year.

We also did a papercraft from over at dltk kids. It was meant to be an Easter Mobile craft, but we hung it from a long doorway in our dinning room. Morgan was impressed that he not only knew why the words were on the crosses, but that he could read them as well.

Morgan saw this owl craft and wanted to make one for Nana, because he was very sure she'd love it since she collects owls. Daddy helped him cut out the felt and get them all glued on, he was very proud of the results. Morgan was right, Nana did enjoy it!

Don't you love how it looks like it's walking? We put the tape around the egg, because it wasn't wanting to stand up and we threw some dried beans inside. We decided to tape the egg closed so that it wouldn't pop open and spill beans all over.

While Morgan worked on his owl craft Jayden wanted to hear the story of Easter again, so I obliged while hanging up laundry. Then we made a "scene" to show all the various components of the story. He had a really great time working on this, and shows it to anyone who walks in the front door.

Now before you laugh too much, let's see if I can explain what everything he put in there is. The egg shell represents the tomb (lucky for him we had eggs for breakfast!). The donkey was because he wanted to show that Jesus rode on a donkey. The police men are suppose to be the Roman Guards, and he made one lay down because it was so scared. He also stuck a rooster in there because of the cock crowing 3x. As for the sheep, I'm not 100% sure on that one, other then "it was there".

It's had a small tumble since being made, and the rock path is now washed in dirt, and half the "hill" fell into some homemade games, the donkey is now laying down, but he's still just as proud of it.

We have a tradition on Easter to go to Sheffield and check out the Mural Fest, which actually starts on Good Friday. A group of artists submit their work in small scale size and explain why they have chosen their painting. There's always a theme. Then from that group only 6 artists are selected. You can go and watch them paint, you can vote for which one you like the most, and other such fun things. We love going and checking out the progress, and watching it unfold.

This artist is actually from America. He's painting the mountain we climbed earlier this year. It's always amazing to see how they get the finished results There's lots of blue hues on his current project, but by the end there won't be.

The boys also enjoy writing their names on the chalk wall each year. It's interesting to see how much their handwriting changes annually. Last year Jayden only had enough room for three letters in his name, this year he nearly got them all on!